What's up with the playing card reviews?

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Blown01Cobra

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The other day I was watching some youtube videos on poker when I saw a suggestion for a poker card deck review. So I clicked on it and I realized there are a considerably large number of people reviewing playing card decks.

I've always known there are some differences in playing cards, plastic coating, rounded corners, flimsiness etc...but these people are reviewing everything from the box to the design of the cards. Just figured there really wasn't so much exciting about cards to deserve in depth reviews. I just thought for the most part, a deck of cards was a deck of cards. I have some casino quality cards at home and some cheap ones from Wal-Mart and there really isn't such a huge difference between them that I would not trust one over the other. Anyone ever watch them? What do you think?
 
OzExorcist

OzExorcist

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Never really watched any of these videos, but believe me not all cards are created equal and I'm not surprised if there's a market for this information.

There are two general categories - 100% plastic, and paper. Protip: if the pack says "plastic coated" then they're still paper, and not every pack that says "casino quality" on the outside would actually measure up to being used in a real casino.

Paper cards will fray at the edges with repeated use and shuffling - as a result, if you do a casino riffle shuffle, most paper decks will become unshufflable in just a couple of hours. They also get creased and marked very easily, so marked cards quickly become a problem if poker is the game you're playing.

100% plastic cards tend to suffer a lot less from these issues. They're much easier to shuffle properly, they last longer and because they don't tend to warp as badly they pitch a lot more accurately. That's not to say all 100% plastic decks are good though.

I deal poker for a job, so this stuff matters to me and I've got strong opinions on what does and doesn't make for a good deck of cards. If all you're doing is playing a home game where you overhand shuffle and place the cards in front of people though, it's probably not a big deal.
 
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Blown01Cobra

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OzExorcist said:
Never really watched any of these videos, but believe me not all cards are created equal and I'm not surprised if there's a market for this information.

There are two general categories - 100% plastic, and paper. Protip: if the pack says "plastic coated" then they're still paper, and not every pack that says "casino quality" on the outside would actually measure up to being used in a real casino.

Paper cards will fray at the edges with repeated use and shuffling - as a result, if you do a casino riffle shuffle, most paper decks will become unshufflable in just a couple of hours. They also get creased and marked very easily, so marked cards quickly become a problem if poker is the game you're playing.

100% plastic cards tend to suffer a lot less from these issues. They're much easier to shuffle properly, they last longer and because they don't tend to warp as badly they pitch a lot more accurately. That's not to say all 100% plastic decks are good though.

I deal poker for a job, so this stuff matters to me and I've got strong opinions on what does and doesn't make for a good deck of cards. If all you're doing is playing a home game where you overhand shuffle and place the cards in front of people though, it's probably not a big deal.
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Hmm...that's good information to know actually. I mean, I've played with a lot of different cards and never really paid attention. Maybe I will have to now.
 
LCDaBoss

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I have had a problem at home games where I would cash out an refuse to continue without a new deck of cards because the quality of the cards do make a differance and I know if I'm looking for marks on the cards like Aces etc. other people are too. It's a must to have a new good deck of cards to me.
 
OzExorcist

OzExorcist

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Blown01Cobra said:
Hmm...that's good information to know actually. I mean, I've played with a lot of different cards and never really paid attention. Maybe I will have to now.
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Put it this way - if it's never bothered you before, there's no reason for it to start bothering you now.
 
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